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OFF THE WIREFormer Milberg partner William Lerach may have a former Hells Angels motorcycle gang leader to thank for a safe stint in prison.

Lerach was sentenced to two years in prison for paying kickbacks to lead plaintiffs in class actions. The 65-year-old disbarred lawyer tells Bloomberg News he spent a lot of time in the library where Greg Domey, the former Hells Angels leader, also hung out. Lerach says Domey, in prison for dealing drugs, is a nice fellow who served as his unofficial guardian. Other inmates, including one known as King Kong, also made sure Lerach was escorted when walking around the prison at night, the story says.

Lerach was released from custody in March 2010 after serving his sentence in a prison camp, a low-security prison and a halfway house. He told Bloomberg that prisoners respected him partly because of his age. He also received lots of magazines in prison, which served as a kind of currency that spurred inmates to do chores for him.

“It’s something that gives you a little cachet and I think helps make friends,” Lerach told the wire service.

During the year he spent in prison, Lerach slept in barracks holding bunk beds for 50 men, except for three months spent in solitary confinement after he offered San Diego Chargers season tickets to a prison guard. He currently lives in a $24 million mansion north of San Diego where he is building an exotic bird aviary.

Bloomberg cites estimates that Lerach has a net worth between $700 million and $900 million.